jim acosta caught up with him this morning. jim, give us a sense who he is. he got a lot of attention at the rnc convention last year. >> reporter: well, suzanne, he was a tea party favorite in the run-up to last november's elections, and it's interesting to note as a lot of americans seem to be saying at least in the polls that they want the congress to work together. they want republicans and democrats to work together on matters such as the fiscal cliff. they have sent more partisans into the capitol, and one of the those partisans is ted cruz. he's a tea party conservative and was the solicitor-general down in texas before running for the senate. he's a graduate of princeton and harvard and also the son of a cuban-american immigrant, but i had a chance to talk with him just briefly earlier this morning because he had been very critical of the negotiated agreement between mitch mcconnell and the vice president, joe biden, on the fiscal cliff. he made no bones about it when i talked to him heading into the capitol earlier this morning. here's what he had to